Author: karenmccague

Monaghan County Council are inviting Expressions of Interest for events for Culture Night 2024. Culture Night/Oíche Chultúir is a national moment, celebrating all that makes up the richness and diversity of culture in Ireland today, connecting people to cultural activities locally and nationally and aims to open up pathways to ongoing engagement. An annual, all-island public event which takes place each year, it celebrates culture, creativity and the arts and seeks to actively promote the belief that this rich and varied culture is alive, treasured and nurtured in people’s lives, today and every day. This year Culture Night will take place on Friday, 20^th September 2024. Special and unique events and workshops are specifically programmed at participating locations and thanks to the continued support of the Arts Council and Local Authorities across the island of Ireland, all activities are made available to the public free of charge.

For more information and to download the Expression of Interest form please visit our dedicated Culture Night webpage. 

Monaghan libraries want you to Get Lost … in a Good Book

-Ireland Reads celebration of reading is back for 2024

Libraries throughout County Monaghan are taking part in Ireland Reads a campaign to get the whole country reading this month in the lead up to a national day of reading on Saturday, February 24th.

Irish libraries have teamed up with publishers, booksellers, authors, and others for the campaign, which is part of the government’s Healthy Ireland programme and aims to celebrate reading and all the benefits it can have for wellbeing and enjoyment.

The campaign is asking everyone to ‘Get Lost in a Good Book’ during February and especially on Ireland Reads Day, Saturday, February 24th.

Events for all ages to celebrate reading, books and literature are planned throughout the County Monaghan. Pop in to Castleblayney library to start your own story with author Fiona Longmuir, help award winning author & illustrator Niamh Sharkey create a monster Doodle in Clones Library, draw along with illustrator Úna Woods in Monaghan Branch Library or discover whether there’s such a thing as ‘Too Many Cats’ with author & illustrator Kate Sheehy in Carrickmacross Library.

IrelandReads.ie

The Ireland Reads website also offers book recommendations suited to a person’s interests and the time they have available. There are more than 1,500 recommendations from librarians all around the country for all interests and reading levels.

A website user can simply enter their favourite type of book and how long they would like to read each day and the website will offer the perfect book suggestion and work out how long it will take to complete – so you can set yourself a challenge if you’re finding it hard to get back to reading.

You can also recommend a book to a friend through the website.

Urging everyone in County Monaghan to get involved in Ireland Reads Karen Mc Cague, Executive Librarian said:

“Getting lost in a good book is one of the best things you can do, at any age. Reading is great for your wellbeing; a good book can relax you, it can teach you, it can take you places you’ve never been and introduce you to people you’ve never met.

Monaghan County Libraries hopes we can get the whole County reading this weekend, especially those who might not be avid readers right now. If you don’t read or you haven’t read in a while, this is the perfect time to give it a try.”

A number of well-known campaign ambassadors are on board to help promote the campaign, including Booker Prize winner, Paul Lynch, Marian Keyes, Colm Tóibín, Rick O’Shea, Liz Nugent and more. You can find out what reading means to them and why they support the campaign at www.irelandreads.ie.

County Monaghan Events

Monaghan County Council’s Culture and Creativity Team are inviting submissions from creative practitioners and organisations to facilitate an event, programme of activities or project to celebrate Cruinniú na nÓg. This year Cruinniú na nÓg will take place Saturday, 15th June.
Deadline for Submissions 5:00 p.m. Thursday, 29th February 2024

Grant aid ranging from €500 to €3000 is available to creative practitioners and organisations to devise, facilitate and deliver creative content and activities for children and young people in any medium or artform. Examples could include theatre, music, street art, performance, fashion, photography, digital arts, literature, storytelling, architecture, coding, biodiversity, heritage, archaeology, landscape etc. Proposals can aim to engage with early childhood, youth, community, arts settings, primary and post-primary schools, families and more. Projects or events must take place or culminate on Saturday 15th June 2024.

Who can apply?

Individual Artist and Creatives

Organisations who engage with children and young people (Community Youth Groups, Youth Work Groups, Sports Groups, Neighbourhood Groups, Creative, Cultural, etc.)

Youth Collectives

Creative Enterprises who engage with children and young people

Please note: If you are an organisation that engages with children and young people (i.e. youth work programme, community centre programme, sports club, etc.) but not an arts organisation, you can propose to bring in an individual artist/creative/collective to engage with your group. Submissions are welcome from communities in every location in the county.

📄Download the submission form here. 

Additional Information

Award payment will be made in 1 payment in May 2024 by EFT.

All projects must be completed by 15th June 2024, with a public event/celebration that takes place on Saturday, 15th June.

All project reports must be completed by Friday 21st June 2024. A project report template will be provided.

The project must take place wholly within County Monaghan.

All individuals working with children and young people must be appropriately Garda Vetted. Individual artists/organisations are responsible for Garda Vetting. Child Protection and Safeguarding

Policy must be in place and available upon request. You are responsible for this.

Funding can be used to for creatives’ fees / purchase materials / to engage an artist in creating new work / to fund an exhibition / or performance of new work / video editing.

You as the awarded Individuals/Organisations are responsible for your own project management, insurance, risk assessment and any other administration and paperwork related to the funded project.

You as the awarded Individuals/Organisations must adhere to the overall project timeline.

All publicity material must include the following logos for acknowledgement: Cruinniú na nÓg 2024, Creative Ireland, Monaghan County Council, among others TBD. All appropriate logos will be provided to you by Creative Monaghan.